Apologies for any cross-posting, but there are 6 fully funded GTA appointments currently being advertised within my Faculty, which may be of interest to list members and/or their students. Details below.
Graduate Teaching Assistant - Faculty of Health and Social Care (6 Posts)
Faculty of Health & Social Care
Location: Ormskirk
Salary: £8,300 per annum plus benefits package
Post Type: Full Time
Closing Date: Wednesday 22 February 2017
Reference: EHGT127-0117
Number of Positions: 6
A fantastic opportunity to study for a fully funded doctorate whilst gaining valuable teaching experience.
https://jobs.edgehill.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=EHGT127-0117
I will be Director of Studies on one of these - details below.
Incapacity-related benefit claimants: Welfare dependency or welfare resilience?
(Director of Studies: Dr Stephen Clayton [log in to unmask])
Despite recent increases in UK employment rates, approximately 2.4 million people are still claiming incapacity-related benefits IRBs, with over half of these having been claiming for over two years. IRB recipients are widely portrayed in the media and by politicians as ‘welfare dependent’. This has resulted in employment policies for this group being narrowly focused on ‘work first’ and active labour market policies, such as the Work Programme, that aim to move the chronically ill and disabled from welfare to work. These policies have met with only limited success.
An alternative hypothesis to that of dependency is that IRB claimants retain the desire to work but face multiple barriers to employment. Whilst for some this may result in negative outcomes, others may develop ways of coping or bolstering their resilience, perhaps through voluntary or caring activities outside the world of paid employment. Current UK policy has a dual approach, resulting in part from perceptions of welfare dependency, either work for those who can or benefits for those who cannot. Having a clearer understanding of the lived experiences of long-term IB claimants will allow the investigation of possible alternatives to this dual track approach.
The research would focus on an ethnographic exploration of the views and experiences of IRB claimants in the UK to increase understanding of how they cope with the risks deriving from the combination of limiting health conditions and low incomes/poverty. The work will additionally aim to identify what can be learnt that is relevant for the design of public policies and services aimed at IRB claimants.
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